The Bactra ReviewHypatia's
Heritage
Naturally, Alic discusses mid-wives and their conflict with academically
trained doctors at some length. The sad truth is that mid-wives lost for no
very good reason, since both parties relied on the medical formula which was
universal until about the middle of the last century, namely one part bedside
manner, one part empirical techniques (mostly for emergencies), and eight parts
rubbish. When Semmelweis introduced antisepsis into his maternity wards in the
mid-1840s, he cut the risk of dying from child-birth ten-fold or more. Up to
then, nobody --- doctor, midwife, surgeon, alchemist or what-not --- seems to
have had the least idea about how to prevent such infections. (The story of
antisepsis is, incidentally, a fine illustration of Lewis Thomas's rule that
really effective medical practices are both simple and cheap, while expensive
and heroic measures indicate floundering about in the dark.)